Analytical Essay
During the 1800’s, society was separated by race, socioeconomic conditions, and gender. The novel The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi portrays the struggle of a thirteen year old girl during her travels across the Atlantic Ocean in 1832. Avi discusses the themes of racism, classism, and sexism and shows how the protagonist Charlotte conquers each during her personal journey from a dependent child to an independent woman. Over the course of the novel, Charlotte transforms as she overcomes racism. In the beginning, Charlotte does not want to be Zachariah’s friend because he is black. “In truth, I didn’t care for the black man…” (Avi 42). When Zachariah tells Charlotte his plan to tell an officer about Captain Jaggery …show more content…
In the beginning of the novel Charlotte tries not to interact with the crew because she is in a higher social class than them, “Though I desired to make it clear that the crew and I were on different levels...” (Avi 69 ). Charlotte starts to interact with the crew more and begins to get used to them. When Charlotte asks to join the crew, Grimes says that Charlotte should not join the crew because she is a gentle woman. He thinks that because she is from an upper class she is not used to doing all the work that a sailor does in his/her everyday life, “‘And a gentle woman’ was Grimes addition as though that was the final evidence of my essential uselessness.” (Avi 115). In this novel, Charlotte’s hair is a symbol of how she acts. When her hair is long, it represents herself at the beginning of the book, proper and well behaved, whereas when cuts her hair it symbols her being free of the past. As you can see, classism plays a big part in the book because it caused the crew to think that she is not worthy enough to be a crew
During the 1800’s, society was separated by race, socioeconomic conditions, and gender. The novel The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi portrays the struggle of a thirteen year old girl during her travels across the Atlantic Ocean in 1832. Avi discusses the themes of racism, classism, and sexism and shows how the protagonist Charlotte conquers each during her personal journey from a dependent child to an independent woman. Over the course of the novel, Charlotte transforms as she overcomes racism. In the beginning, Charlotte does not want to be Zachariah’s friend because he is black. “In truth, I didn’t care for the black man…” (Avi 42). When Zachariah tells Charlotte his plan to tell an officer about Captain Jaggery …show more content…
In the beginning of the novel Charlotte tries not to interact with the crew because she is in a higher social class than them, “Though I desired to make it clear that the crew and I were on different levels...” (Avi 69 ). Charlotte starts to interact with the crew more and begins to get used to them. When Charlotte asks to join the crew, Grimes says that Charlotte should not join the crew because she is a gentle woman. He thinks that because she is from an upper class she is not used to doing all the work that a sailor does in his/her everyday life, “‘And a gentle woman’ was Grimes addition as though that was the final evidence of my essential uselessness.” (Avi 115). In this novel, Charlotte’s hair is a symbol of how she acts. When her hair is long, it represents herself at the beginning of the book, proper and well behaved, whereas when cuts her hair it symbols her being free of the past. As you can see, classism plays a big part in the book because it caused the crew to think that she is not worthy enough to be a crew